Robot assisted renal transplant surgery – the latest innovation in the field

Ticker

15/recent/ticker-posts

Robot assisted renal transplant surgery – the latest innovation in the field

Lucknow: A 32-year-old woman donated her left kidney to save the life of her father who was suffering from end-stage renal failure. 62-year-old Ram Naresh Nigam (the recipient) had a history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus and was suffering from an advanced stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hence required renal transplant urgently.

Both the patient and the donor were admitted and thoroughly investigated for medical conditions and compatibility. Anjali Nigam was found to a match for her father and willingly opted to become the donor.

“Considering the age of the donor, all the procedures were monitored minutely and the team decided to perform robotic living-donor renal allograft transplant under general anaesthesia. After a thorough pre-transplant workup and clearance from cardiology and psychiatry after obtaining proper consent, his transplant surgery was done successfully. Similarly, the daughter underwent left laparoscopic donor nephrectomy under General Anaesthesia with no adverse events postoperatively. Postoperatively the patient made a swift recovery with good urine output and rapid decline in creatinine levels and was discharged in stable condition,” explained Dr Anant Kumar, Chairman – Urology, Renal Transplant, Robotics and Uro-Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket.

In the last few years, there have been many advances in renal replacement and organ support, namely in terms of innovation and technology. Robot-Assisted Renal Transplantation has become extremely useful as it results in quicker recovery, less pain and smaller scar with quicker healing. Unlike regular surgeries for kidney transplantation where the patient receives the kidney through a larger muscle cutting process, robotic surgery is conducted with only a small incision and involves no cutting of muscle. Blood loss during surgery and scope for human error are also minimized.

The occurrence of kidney failure or chronic kidney disease (CKD) cases in the country are rapidly increasing due to various factors such as Diabetes, Uncontrolled Hypertension, Genetic conditions, Autoimmune diseases, drug or alcohol abuse and urinary tract infections. With ‘Kidney Transplant’ being the only end solution for such cases, it is imperative for patients and their families to understand various types of kidney transplant surgical procedures as people are sceptical about their own well-being when they are asked to donate one kidney.

“Robot-assisted surgeries are currently revolutionizing the way surgeries are conducted across the globe. We need to understand that donating one kidney does not affect the physical abilities, quality of life or longevity of a person. We also remove donor kidney by laparoscopic methods so that donors have minimal discomfort and excellent cosmetic results,” Dr Kumar added.

Robotic surgery has become the most advanced form of surgery in today’s era, ensuring several benefits as compared to conventional open surgery as well as laparoscopic surgery. The benefits of robotic surgery include the use of special instruments which are mounted on robotic arms, a high-precision camera instead of an enlarged surgical site, minimal incisions ensuring very little scarring, zero or very little blood loss, quick healing, early return to work and shorter hospital stay. On most occasions, patients are made mobile within 24 hours of any major surgery. To date, Max Healthcare has completed more than 100 numbers of successful robotic kidney transplants and more than 1000 numbers of overall robotic procedures.

Share